Chapter 437

“Murder!!!”

Joshua, who had been “assassinated,” managed to luckily turn the carriage door handle, but alas, his collar was grabbed from behind by Leon. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free. In a panic, he could only struggle desperately while screaming for help at the top of his lungs.

The carriage driver wasn’t deaf after all. With such a commotion inside the carriage, there was no way he wouldn’t react. After hearing the guest’s cry for help, he hastily slowed down and parked, then opened the small window between the driving seat and the carriage, cautiously sticking his head out for a peek.

“You two… what’s going on?”

“No problem.”

Leon nonchalantly turned around after covering Joshua’s mouth and said: “We’re just playing around, keep going… What’s wrong with your face?”

Huh? The carriage driver was momentarily stunned by the question, then extended his metallic palm, which resembled a round ball, to touch his slightly rusted face, confusedly replying, “Guest, is there something on my face?”

“…”

It’s not that there’s something on your face; it’s more like what exactly are you?! Both people inside the carriage couldn’t help but simultaneously gasp in horror upon seeing the strange metallic sheen of the iron-plated head poking through the small window, along with the hollow eyes that had turned into brown glass.

“Ughh! Uuuuughhh!”

Already startled by Leon’s “assassination,” and then suddenly shocked again by the monster peering through the air vent, the Freckled Prince’s shock meter completely exploded. His whole body went limp as if he’d lost all his bones, collapsing directly onto the carriage floor. He stared at the iron-plated driver with eyes full of horror, unable to utter a word for a long time.

Although Leon was also startled by the iron doll-like carriage driver, these two months of being a cleaner had really honed his psychological resilience. An abnormal event of this level was no longer enough to make him lose his composure.

After making an effort to steady himself, Leon first reached out to close the carriage door, then picked up the already limp Joshua and shoved him back into the opposite chair. He then tentatively asked the carriage driver, “Can you tell me what it feels like when you touch your own face?”

What kind of question is this? Though puzzled by Leon’s inquiry, the carriage driver, who had picked up these two guests outside the parliament gates and knew they must be important, obediently replied: “Feels about the same as usual—cold, hard… oh yeah, my face might be a bit rusty lately, probably need to apply some oil.”

A bit rusty lately…

Upon hearing this rather eerie response, Leon couldn’t help but narrow his eyes slightly.

Believing oneself to be an iron man instead of a human with soft skin suggests that the carriage driver’s self-cognition has already been confused. This implies that the anomalous item causing his transformation isn’t of low rank.

Should I touch his face? Temporarily abandoning the idea of knocking Joshua unconscious, Leon looked at the somewhat confused iron-plated head in the small window, hesitating whether or not to reach out and touch it, but ultimately decided against it.

After all, if the anomalous item that transformed the carriage driver into an iron doll spreads through contact, touching it would essentially be inviting trouble. Without confirming the cause and type of the anomalous item, it’s safer to minimize contact.

“Indeed.”

Looking at the iron-plated face of the carriage driver, Leon noticed faint traces of reddish-brown rust on his neck and jawline. He kindly nodded and said:

“You have some rust, you really should take better care of yourself.”

“Hehe, nah.”

“I’m sure maintenance is for people like you. We can just use some rapeseed oil to prevent moisture. Besides, working in wind and rain, no matter how well-maintained, we’ll still rust.”

“That’s quite tough indeed.”

Adhering to the principle of not alarming the other party before confirming the source of the anomaly, Leon chatted casually while gripping Joshua’s hand and pushed open the carriage door. Maintaining his calm expression, he said, “By the way, I just remembered something. Could you please wait here for a moment? Let me get out and check something.”

“Ah, okay!”

Upon hearing Leon’s words, the iron-plated carriage driver nodded in agreement, then twisted his creaky neck. His two eyeballs made of brown glass beads stared straight at the frightened Freckled Prince on the ground.

“Guest.”

With his red-brown rust-streaked chin slightly parted, revealing a stiff and wooden smile unique to toy dolls, the iron-plated carriage driver tilted his neck awkwardly, constrained by its iron joints, and sinisterly asked the terrified Joshua: “Do you want a hot towel?”

“Aaaaahh!!!”

The iron carriage driver’s behavior, which was almost human but not quite, likely triggered the uncanny valley effect, shattering Joshua’s already shattered psychological defenses.

After letting out an uncontrollable scream, Joshua lunged toward the carriage door, practically rolling out of the carriage, instinctively wanting to distance himself from this eerie vehicle.

However, once Joshua got up from the ground, ready to flee, just one glance caused him to plop right back down.

The palace, the thoroughfare, the square, the alleys… This place he had seen countless times was now filled with all sorts of iron men! The sentries supposed to guard the palace gate with weapons were replaced by two squads of tall black iron soldiers. Their iron-gray reinforced guard uniforms had become real black-gray iron, becoming part of their bodies.

On the thoroughfare specially designated for carriages outside the palace, steam-powered carriages raced past, but the horses pulling them had turned into iron horses, their joints becoming spherical toy joints.

The originally smooth movement had become jerky due to the joint changes. Every so often, the iron horse’s limbs reset, causing the carriage behind to jolt to a stop.

Moreover, the guards in the square, the elegantly dressed nobles, the pedestrians in the alleys, stray dogs stealing goods, brawling merchants…

Everything that should have been alive had turned into iron dolls. Even though the area around the palace remained bustling, a cold, hard iron gray stretched endlessly in every direction, devoid of any warmth or softness of flesh and blood.

“This… this…”

This is definitely not an ordinary anomalous item…

Squinting and looking further away, Leon spotted a group of children turning into iron at the end of the street and couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Not only the carriage driver but all living things around had been ironized, and the range was still expanding. Moreover…

Lowering his head and looking at his still fleshy hands, he rubbed them together, feeling the cold hardness. Leon’s eyebrows furrowed.

Am I an iron man too?